Bring on the dancing girls: The 65-year-old trod the boards of London's Cambridge Theatre last night, in the role of crooked lawyer Billy Flynn.

The host and former mayor of Cincinnati has already had a musical, Jerry Springer - The Opera, created about his hit TV show.

But this is the first time he has taken on an all-singing and dancing part himself.

Before launching his run, British-born Springer said: 'I'm a lawyer and I'm also in showbusiness. There are elements of the character that I can kind of draw upon I think. Talking to the jury, putting on a big show.'

But he joked that he had 'a voice for newspapers and a face for radio' and added: ''When I sing, the audience really gets involved because they will have to guess where the notes were supposed to have been.'